To the Moon and Back
by PatronumAlexis9
Summary: A collection of one-shots written in the Marauders' era.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, and welcome to the first PatronumAlexis9 fanfic! In case you haven't read our bio, PA9 is the collaboration account of BellaAlexis29 and Patronum394. This is just a short oneshot that might continue into a series following the Marauders. Please enjoy!

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"James, I told you, I will never go out with you," Lily Evans rolled her eyes as James Potter asked her out for the third time that day.

"Well, just think about it," James smiled. _One day_ , he thought, _one day she_ will _say yes_.

"Fine, I will," Lily shook her head. As James and his mates walked away, Lily turned toward her own friend. "He's hopeless." she muttered. "Utterly hopeless."

"He's just persistent," Lily's best friend Anna laughed. "It just proves how much he likes you!"

"Okay, I get it. Potter likes me. But that doesn't change the fact that he is an arrogant pig." Lily stomped her foot.

"How so?" Anna asked.

"Look at him. He struts around, acting like he _owns_ the place, just because he's a Chaser on the Quidditch team! I mean, come on. He always has that windswept hair, as if he had been flying around on a broom all day to get to class. And even if he did, I wouldn't be surprised! I don't think he and I have ever had a conversation in which he didn't bring up Quidditch. And what he does to poor Severus! I mean, Severus isn't an angel either, but still, dangling him in the air isn't the way you treat a person! It's absolutely absurd!" Lily finished dramatically.

"Are you done yet?" Anna smirked.

"Yes," Lily retorted, "as a matter of fact, I am."

"Merlin, Lily, you talk about Potter all the time, and yet you refuse to go out with him?" Anna teased.

"Well, I..." Lily's face flushed. "It's not like I'm _complimenting_ him or anything. I mean, well..."

"Evans," Potter had reentered the Common room, "I didn't know you talked about me. Are you sure you don't want to go out with me?"

"I'm absolutely positive, Potter." Lily shot Anna a very deadly glance that clearly said _I'll kill you later for not telling me he was here._

"Well, you might want to give my proposal a little thought before you completely reject it," Potter beamed.

"And why might that be?" Lily asked.

"There's a Hogsmeade visit coming up rather soon, and it would be absolutely _dreadful_ if you had to go alone," James teased.

"I wouldn't be going alone, I'd have Anna with me." Lily crossed her arms as a triumphant smile crossed over her face.

"Erm, well... about that, I erm..." Anna stuttered.

"You didn't tell her?" James clucked his tongue with mock disapproval. "Why, Miss Anderson here is visiting Hogsmeade with our dear friend Padfoot."

Lily looked back and forth between Anna and Sirius Black, both of whom looked very awkward, and rather sheepish as well.

"Sirius Black, huh?" Lily was taken aback. "Why would you not tell me?"

"I just, erm... never really had the chance." Anna looked down at her feet; she was blushing a rather furious shade of red, as was Sirius.

"So, are you two, like, officially dating now or something? Merlin, Anna, I didn't even know you liked Black!" Lydia was shocked.

"Well, we're not exactly dating, erm... it's more like, um... a, well, I guess it's an _outing_." Anna blushed even more now than before. "Sirius asked me to go with him after supper, and, well, I said yes."

"Oh." Lily was speechless.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't want to third wheel, would you?" Potter grinned. "Therefore, I ask you again, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

After a long, meaningful pause, Lily exhaled in defeat. "Fine."

"Wait, really?" James was taken aback. "Like, you're actually going out with me? Like, on a date? As in, girlfriend/boyfriend?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Don't push it."

"Okay." James smiled, causing Lily to blush.

One of James' friends, Remus Lupin, who had been quietly watching this conversation as it progressed, finally chimed in and said, "Aw... Prongs, you got her to blush!" This was followed by a chorus of "Oohs" and "Aahs", which was harmonized perfectly by the sound of a low growl, coming from Lily.

"You need to stop." Lily scowled.

"Don't be like that, Lily!" James protested as he strode over to her and took her hand in his.

Pulling away, Lily glared directly into James' hazel eyes. "Don't you even _think_ of trying anything."

Lupin smirked as he said, "Hey, James, I call godfather." Lily groaned.

"Just for that, Padfoot gets to be godfather..." James retorted.

"Hey!" Lily punched James' arm.

"... _if_ anything happens." James finished, eyeing Lily cautiously.

"Let me make it clear how big of an 'if' that is." Lily crossed her arms. "The odds of anything happening are about the same as the odds of meeting a nice Hungarian Horntail."

"So, that's a _little_ chance, right?" Sirius grinned.

"Cut it out, Padfoot." James glared at him sternly. "It's just a date. You don't need to make such a big deal about it."

That basically got everyone to shut up.

After a moment or two of awkward silence, Lily took James by the arm. "Come on." she whispered. The pair walked outside of the Common Room and Lily lead James to the nearby large stone gargoyle.

"Why do you keep asking me out?" Lily asked after a second.

"Because I love you."James smiled. "I love you to the moon and back." James placed his arms around Lily's waist and pulled her closer... closer until she could feel his heartbeat.

"Ahem." The pair looked up, both blushing furiously as Lily swiftly shoved herself out of James's hold. Standing in front of them was Severus- Lily's old-time friend and James' usual victim- in pranks only.

"Hate to interrupt, but can you keep the public displays of affection to a minimum? Or somewhere no one can see you two?" He shook his head and mumbled, "Honestly."

James and Lily stood slightly more distanced than before, both sharing a thought about what might have happened if Severus hadn't been there.

In Transfiguration, their Gryffindor friends wondered what had happened to them, but shrugged it off.

James shot Lily a small smile while turning a porcelain elephant into a feather and accidentally turned his partner into a parrot. Lily snorted and started laughing hysterically, and the rest of the class joined in.

After that, James couldn't stop teasing her about how cute it was when she snorted while laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Story two! Hope you guys enjoy, and please, review to tell us what you think!**

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"Moony..." James gaped at his friend as he transformed from man to wolf.

Moony growled fiercely.

"Prongs, what's going on?" Wormtail trembled and hid behind James.

"Why didn't you tell us?" The wolf offered no response to Sirius's question, and James repeated it. Still, silence.

"Remus," James looked concerned. "Remus..."

Moony growled again and jumped at them. James, who had the quickest reflexes, pulled out his wand and shouted, " _Protego_!"

Remus Lupin seemed to hit an invisible wall. He had fully transformed into a werewolf.

"Remus, it's okay." James said firmly. "You can trust us. We're your friends."

Remus leapt again and hit the invisible barrier with a loud howl. Wormtail squealed loudly.

"Shut up, Peter." Sirius rolled his eyes. "There are more important things going on right now."

"You can trust us." James repeated over and over again.

"You can trust us..."

Remus howled and began to scratch at the walls. He made all sorts of animal noises and each shriek was painful to the three boys ears. Still they stayed. Eventually, he breached a hole in the wall and ran outside and into the forest ahead. Each branch that crossed his path was broken by his steady lope.

Out of the mist came a pack of wolves, and they snarled at him. Remus shrunk away from the hostile group and turned the other direction. Behind him were his friends- only, he didn't recognize them. They looked terrified of their werewolf friend and James held out his wand.

"S-stop! Don't move!"

Remus turned tail and found Hogwarts looming in front of him. A deep yearning erupted inside of him and he ran towards the door, hoping to finally find acceptance. But to no avail. The students crowded near the entrance had matching expressions of shock that soon changed to anger.

"You lied to us!" One student shouted.

"Werewolf!" A girl nearby shrieked, "Get away from me!"

Each call felt like an arrow to his side, and something new bubbled inside him. An unmistakable sense of betrayal stirred inside him and he let loose all his might. The students.

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Remus woke up, doused in sweat.

Suddenly, he stood up. On the bed next to him was James. The words of his dream echoed in Remus's mind:

" _You can trust us..."_

"James?" Remus shook his friend, "Prongs?"

"Umphun-iznotmorninyetmum..."

 _"James!"_ Remus shouted, exasperated. Well, he whispered loudly. Everyone else was still asleep, and Remus wanted them to stay that way.

"What?" James finally sat up, looking like a mess. His hair was knotted and mussed to a point where it looked like a mop had been haphazardly thrown on top of James's head. He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table, unfolded them, and saw the figure in front of him come into focus.

"James, I need to ask you a hypothetical question." Remus Lupin took a deep breath, "If I... if I'm a..."

James looked puzzledly at his friend. "If you... what?"

"I, well, um... nevermind." Remus dismissed the idea with the wave of his hand.

"C'mon, Moony," Sirius urged. "Speak your mind."

"Well, like I said, this is just hypothetically speaking, but, um... what would you lot think if I was a, um... w-werewolf?"

James, Sirius and Peter burst into a fit of laughter.

"Is that what your little nightmare was about?" Sirius doubled over, still laughing. "You really dreamt you were a werewolf?"

"Um, yeah." Moony scratched his forehead. "Yeah, it was a pretty bad dream, I guess. I mean, you all turned on me, so I guess..."

"Remus." James adopted a serious expression. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Moony, if you were a werewolf, we'd stand by your side. Each full moon, helping you along."

"Thanks." Remus whispered softly, looking up to see the three with matching expressions of earnestness.

"Now, if you please, I'd like to be back in bed! I was having a particularly nice dream involving one Lily Evans and would like to continue it." James turned over, pulling the covers over his head, and the other three laughed.

"Night, then." Remus sat back in his bed.

"Night, Moony." Each of the boys called back, though James's response was a bit muffled.

"Goodnight." Remus "Moony" Lupin whispered to himself, then fell back into the world of dreams- of course, none of being a hypothetical werewolf. But that's absolutely ridiculous, now, isn't it?

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 **AN:**

 **We hope you enjoyed! Sorry it was short... future stories will be longer than this, we promise.**

 **As always, review!**


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